I stay away from DirecTV. I was a loyal and on-time paying customer for five years. Then we sold our house in rural Wisconsin and moved to Las Vegas. My wife called DirecTV and told them to cancel our service. In Las Vegas we hooked into cable (I love high-speed internet that they offer!)
About 18 months later we got a collection notice for 6 months of service from DirecTV. When I called them, I discovered that 6 months after we canceled our service, they turned our service back on. Bills were sent to former house in Wisconsin. When the first 3 months passed without a payment, they attempted to call our former Wisconsin phone number. So they turned off our service for a month and then in a good faith gesture, they turned it back on for another 3 months.
I pointed out that all of our receivers (They were mine.) were in storage since we canceled our service. I also pointed out that since each receiver must call in monthly, they could check their records and see that we had not used any of their services. I have called them several times and written several letters. They are still threatening to ruin my credit if I don’t pay them.
What a bunch of thieves.
I do all my transactions with DirecTV on their website and print out the confirmation page. I do this with nearly all of my bill payments.